One man killed and another seriously injured in Pulteney Weir boat fire

A man was killed after a cabin cruiser went up in flames on Sunday morning in the heart of Bath.

The 27ft cruiser Eilish was moored yards from Pulteney Weir in Bath (pictured above) when the fire started. The boat was fully ablaze by the time the fire crew arrived, despite the fire station being only a few hundred yards upstream.

Fire crews told the Western Daily Press that a 40-year-old man, who died at the scene, was trapped at the heart of the blaze in the wheelhouse and he couldn’t be freed. Paramedics managed to rescue a 30-year-old man from the water, who was found with burns to 60 per cent of his body.

It’s believed the men, who the police have not yet named, recently bought Eilish and had moored her in the centre of Bath on Saturday afternoon ready for a night out in the city.

“The boat involved was a typical cabin cruiser type with accommodation to the front and a raised wheelhouse area to the rear,” a spokesman for Avon Fire and Rescue told the BBC.

The fire spread to a small boat, called the Dawn Raider, which was moored just behind the cruiser.

“As far as we can say the cause of the fire is still being investigated,” said a spokesperson for Avon and Somerset Fire and Rescue. “A small fire can be devastating for a boat, partly because of the materials involved such as fuel.”

The survivor was rushed to the Royal United Hospital in Bath so his condition could be stabilised before he was transferred to the specialist burns unit at Frenchay Hospital in Bristol.